Facing Diabetes Head On: Advice from a Diabetic for a Diabetic

Justan Carlson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after a wrestling accident damaged his pancreas, the organ that makes insulin to help your body convert sugar into energy. Now, nearly 11 years later, Justan lives his life as he wants with only a few caveats.

Learn about what advice Justan has for other diabetics who are figuring out how to manage their condition in their everyday lives.

Diabetes means your body is changing, so it’s important that you listen to what it’s trying to tell you.

“Pay attention to how your body reacts to things,” Justan says.

This includes how your body responds to food, exercise, and other factors that can affect your blood sugar level. After more than a decade with diabetes, Justan is so in tune with his body that he can accurately guess his blood sugar within five points.

While diabetes is tied to obesity, it’s important to remember that being diagnosed with diabetes doesn’t mean you’re sentenced to a sedentary lifestyle. On the contrary, exercise becomes that much more important for those with diabetes.

A self-described “active person,” Justan isn’t a slave to the gym, but he’s always doing something. He recommends — along with researchers and doctors — all diabetics get off the couch.

Justan isn’t ashamed of his diabetes, and although it may be hard to follow his lead, he recommends everyone approach their condition in this way. Instead of walking around feeling down, Justan uses humor when the subject of diabetes comes up.

It often happens when a clerk at a gas station will ask him if he realized he grabbed a diet soda. “I just say, ‘Yeah, I’m trying to watch my girlish figure,’” he says, laughing. “Then I tell them it’s better for my diabetes.”

Before Justan was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes—which requires regular insulin injections—the idea of getting a shot made him woozy. He knew he had to confront his fear to live. So he did.

“You gotta face the fear of something new,” he says.

Facing that fear of needles also turned into a profession. He’s now a tattoo artist in Rock Island, Illinois. One of his favorite tattoos he has is a Tyrannosaurus rex injecting itself with insulin. It says, “Rawr diabetes!”